Former PM David Cameron says second referendum ‘cannot be ruled out’

Former Prime
Minister David Cameron believes a second referendum ‘cannot be ruled out’
because ‘we’re stuck’. Mr Cameron’s comments come ahead of the release of his
tell-all memoir For The Record, in which he criticises Boris Johnson and
Michael Gove for behaving ‘appallingly’ in the run-up to the referendum.

In an
interview with The Times, the former PM revealed he thinks about his decision
to hold the 2016 EU referendum ‘every day’ and regrets many things that
happened during the build-up.

He told the
paper in an interview: ‘Some people will never forgive me for holding a
referendum. Others for holding it and losing it. ‘There are, of course, all
those people who wanted a referendum and wanted to leave who are glad that a
promise was made, and a promise was kept.’

Mr Cameron
said that the morning after losing the EU referendum he called Europe’s leaders
and Barack Obama to say ‘sorry’. He added that he doesn’t sleep much as he
‘worries desperately about what is going to happen next’.

Mr Cameron
added that he wishes Mr Johnson well as the country’s new PM and ‘wanted him to
get a deal from the EU that would have passed in the House of Commons’. But he
added he does not support Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament and a
no-deal Brexit would be a bad idea.

His comments
come after Scottish judges ruled Mr Johnson’s proroguing of Parliament was
unlawful, in a case which will be heard at the Supreme Court next week. The
former PM said: ‘Taking the whip from hard-working Conservative MPs and sharp
practices using prorogation of Parliament have rebounded. I didn’t support
either of those things. Neither do I think a no-deal Brexit is a good idea.’

Mr Cameron,
who famously vowed during his premiership to step down if the UK voted to leave
the EU, said he does not regret calling the referendum despite it destroying
his political career. In the book, which will hit the shelves next
week, Mr Cameron refers to his former education secretary Michael Gove, as
‘mendacious’.

He claims Mr
Gove promised him he would not play a prominent role in the Leave campaign
ahead of the referendum. Mr Cameron also revealed he wanted to demote him to
chief whip in 2014 over concerns he was alienating teachers.

But when he refused to step down, Mr Cameron told him via text: ‘You are either a team player or a w*****.’ The tell-all autobiography will hit shelves this weekend, which has caused tension in Downing Street over fears of what could be revealed about the new PM.